In the vast majority of literature on 'Chinese nationalism' the distinction between nation and state is rarely made. Consequently nationalism usually appears as loyalty to the state rather than identification with the nation. Yet, since 1989, both the official configuration of the nation and the state's monopolized right to name the nation have come under rigorous challenge. Cultural Nationalism in Contemporary China describes the battle for China's soul which has taken place between cultural nationalism and state nationalism. It relocates the discussion of nationalism in a more contemporary framework which explores the disjunction between the nation as imagined by the cultural nationalists and the state.

Since the late 1980s the Chinese Party-state has increasingly embraced a more Westernized way of life enabling the country to propel itself into a position of economic and political international importance. This revolutionary upheaval has led cultural nationalism to pose such controversial questions as, what constitutes Chineseness? And, is a Party-state that portrays itself as the sole representative of the nation a legitimate one? This revealing work not only suggests that the CCP is beginning to compromise, but also that the cultural nationalists further seek to reform the Party-state in accordance with the nation's will, beliefs, values and concept of its own identity.